The president holds the ceremonial position of head of state and is directly elected for up to two five-year terms. Nataša Pirc Musar was elected president in 2022.

The prime minister heads the executive branch and is appointed by the National Assembly (Državni Zbor) for a four-year term. Robert Golob of the Freedom Movement (GS) leads a three-party liberal-left coalition government that enjoys a comfortable majority in the parliament.

The legislature is composed of the 40-seat National Council (Državni Svet), elected indirectly, and a 90-seat National Assembly. Of the National Assembly members elected to four-year terms, 88 are elected by a system of proportional representation. Two additional seats are reserved for lawmakers representing Hungarian and Italian minorities.

The GS became the National Assembly’s largest party in the April 2022 elections, winning 41 seats and 34.5 percent of the vote. The Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) won 27 seats and 23.5 percent of the vote. The New Slovenia–Christian Democrats won 8 seats and 6.9 percent, the Social Democrats (SD) won 7 seats and 6.7 percent, and the Left (Levica) won 5 seats and 4.5 percent. Turnout stood at 71 percent, far higher than the 52.6 percent turnout seen in the 2018 polls. A GS–SD–Left coalition formally took power in June. In their December 2022 report, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) monitors deemed the parliamentary elections free and fair.

Slovenian voters participated in local elections in November and December 2022. Independent and conservative candidates reportedly performed well. Council of Europe observers called the November round orderly. Turnout for that round stood at 47.5 percent. A runoff was held in 47 municipalities in December.

In May 2023, the Constitutional Court ruled that Tomaž Horvat, the National Council representative for culture and sport, had not been a valid candidate for his position, necessitating a repeat election. The election for the role was repeated later that month.

The National Election Commission (DVK) is an independent and impartial body that supervises free and fair elections and ensures electoral laws are properly implemented.

Slovenian voters residing abroad have encountered difficulties in receiving and returning postal ballots.

The constitutional right to organize in different political parties is upheld in practice. Parties need to pass a 4 percent threshold to win a seat in the parliament. Parties winning more than 1 percent of the vote are eligible for a proportional share of funds from the national budget.

Political power frequently rotates between parties.

People’s political choices are free from domination by powerful groups that are not democratically accountable.

Citizens enjoy full political rights and electoral opportunities. Hungarian and Italian minorities each elect their own lawmaker to the National Assembly. Roma councilors sit on 20 municipal councils.

A 35 percent gender quota is mandated by law, and political parties that have not complied with the standard have had their lists rejected. Gender quotas are enforced at the precinct level. Newer parties have included more women in their party lists, while older parties’ lists often include more men. Female political representation markedly improved after the 2022 parliamentary and presidential elections. Women hold a number of senior governing positions, and some 40 percent of National Assembly members elected in 2022 are women, the highest share in Slovenian history.

Elected officials are free to set and implement government policy without undue interference.

Corruption in Slovenia largely takes the form of conflicts of interest between public officials and private businesses.

In a May 2023 report, the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption (KPK) underlined violations of integrity and conflicts of interest as key areas of concern. Media reports during the year also highlighted ongoing concerns about corruption in the healthcare and construction sectors. Following devastating floods in August, the government announced a massive reconstruction effort, prompting the KPK to call for transparency in public procurement processes.

In 2023, several allegations of undue interference by prominent officials came under active investigation. In November, the KPK opened an investigation into Prime Minister Robert Golob based on allegations that he had exerted undue interference over former interior minister Tatjana Bobnar’s appointments to the police force. In November, the KPK launched an investigation into former minister of public administration Sanja Ajanović Hovnik and alleged irregularities in her use of public funds while in office. Ajanović Hovnik had resigned her position in October following media pressure over these alleged irregularities, which included a costly trip to New York and the awarding of public funds to her former business partner, which raised conflict of interest concerns among observers. The former minister remained under investigation at year’s end.

The government generally operates with openness.

In 2022, the GS–led coalition sought to improve government transparency on healthcare issues: that June, the National Assembly backed an amended Communicable Diseases Act (ZNB) that allowed for greater parliamentary oversight over health-related restrictions, and that July, the National Assembly abolished Janša-era public procurement rules that had been criticized for reducing the transparency of public tenders.

The KPK also issued formal reprimands to a number of current and former ministers in 2023 for failing to report their assets within a legally prescribed time frame.

Press freedom is constitutionally guaranteed, but defamation remains a criminal offense. State-owned enterprises maintain stakes in several media outlets, leaving them vulnerable to government intervention. Media ownership is sometimes opaque, and local outlets have been abused as propaganda tools favoring incumbent mayors. Journalists are subject to pressure from powerful business interests and occasional harassment due to their coverage.

In recent years, public media outlets have faced persistent interference by Janša-era appointees. In 2021, the Janša government secured a majority on the RTV SLO Programming Council through a number of appointments, despite opposition concerns over their legality. In a video that surfaced in May 2022, Slavko Kmetič, a member of the RTV SLO Programming Council and an SDS activist, was recorded discussing purges of journalists deemed critical of the party. That September, a group of RTV SLO employees said that managers were applying partisan pressure on them, including through disciplinary action.

After taking office, the Golob government introduced a bill designed to protect the independence of public media outlets. The bill sought to replace RTV SLO’s two governing boards with a single supervisory board whose members would be selected by staff members and civil society, rather than by the National Assembly. The government’s proposal was approved by voters in a referendum in November 2022. The law came into full effect after the Constitutional Court decided to allow the formation of a new RTV SLO governing body in May 2023.

The newly formed body met for the first time in June 2023, and appointed a long-time RTV SLO employee as the broadcaster’s new acting director in August. Journalists’ organizations and a majority of RTV SLO employees welcomed this development as a major step toward the true independence of the public broadcaster.

Score Change: The score improved from 2 to 3 because a favorable court ruling permitted the implementation of a law designed to protect the independence of public media outlets, and new leaders were subsequently appointed at the country’s national public broadcaster.

The Slovenian constitution guarantees religious freedom and contains provisions prohibiting incitement of religious intolerance or discrimination. The government dissolved the Office for Religious Communities in 2021, leaving no overarching framework for dialogue between the government and many religious communities.

Academic freedom is generally respected.

Individuals are generally free to express their personal beliefs without fear of reprisal. Defamation remains a criminal offense, though officials may no longer press charges through the state prosecutor.

Assembly and association rights are guaranteed by the constitution and generally respected in practice. Assemblies must be registered with the authorities in advance and sometimes require permits.

Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) operate freely and play a role in policymaking.

Workers may establish and join trade unions, strike, and bargain collectively.

Disagreements between the government and labor unions over public sector wage reforms led to months of negotiations between the parties during 2023. Talks between the government and union representatives were ongoing at year’s end.

The constitution provides for an independent judiciary. Since taking office, the GS–led coalition has declared its intention to respect the branch’s independence.

During 2022 and 2023, the government began efforts to amend the constitution and overhaul the judicial appointment process in an attempt to prevent politics from unduly influencing the judiciary. Its proposed changes include transferring the power to appoint most judges from the National Assembly to the president. The changes would also increase the size of the Judicial Council, the body responsible for vetting judicial candidates, from 4 members to 15, with 7 elected by two-thirds majority in the parliament and 8 selected by judges. While the Slovenian Association of Judges welcomed the empowerment of the president to appoint most judges, it also expressed concern that the suggested changes to the Judicial Council would increase the politicization of the judiciary rather than guard against it. In October, the National Assembly voted to begin constitutional amendment proceedings to implement the proposed reforms.

Public perception of the judiciary has improved in recent years. Judicial efficiency has also improved, though minimal progress in addressing a backlog has been achieved. Judges usually rule in a timely manner. Those working in the judicial branch have complained about inadequate infrastructure and working conditions.

The rule of law is respected in civil and criminal matters. Programs aimed at reducing court backlogs have seen some success.

People in Slovenia are generally free from threats of physical force. In recent years, the police have embarked on a program aimed at building trust within the community.

Some deficiencies impede the protection of equal rights in Slovenia. Roma face widespread poverty, are subjected to hate speech, are socially marginalized, and lack access to early and secondary education, legal housing, and basic utilities. Students with disabilities often have difficulty accessing educational services.

Though legal protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation exist, anti-LGBT+ discrimination remains a challenge. At least three people were assaulted during the Ljubljana Pride Parade in June 2023, and an LGBT+ friendly establishment was attacked and suffered property damage. Several more incidents occurred during the Maribor Pride Parade in September: participants were harassed during the parade itself, and after the parade, one person was attacked by a group of people and sought emergency medical care.

In a May 2023 report, Slovenia’s Human Rights Ombudsman expressed concern that the government and individual ministries had rejected or otherwise failed to comply with numerous suggestions and recommendations his office had issued previously.

In 2022, then-president Pahor offered a formal apology to the 25,000 people whose residency documents were deleted by authorities in 1992, referred to as the Erased. The affected people were citizens of the former Yugoslavia who had not applied for Slovenian citizenship after independence. The Slovenia Peace Institute welcomed Pahor’s apology but noted that some of the Erased have not received compensation.

While the previous government restricted the rights of refugees and asylum seekers, the current administration has begun consultation on a new migration policy, which it says will address asylum practices. According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), of the approximately 10,700 refugees in Slovenia as of September 2023, nearly 9,700 were Ukrainian. The UNHCR has lauded Slovenia as a “welcoming environment for refugees,” but warned that the country was under strain due to the number of refugees and asylum seekers.

Citizens enjoy the right to change their residence, employment, and place of education.

Individuals may exercise the right to own property and establish private business in practice.

Individuals generally enjoy personal social freedoms. In 2022, the Constitutional Court ruled that legislation banning same-sex marriages and adoptions was unconstitutional, immediately legalizing both practices. Corresponding amendments to the family code were adopted by the National Assembly in October 2022, and came into force in January 2023.

As a result of a successful grassroots campaign by Slovenian NGO Silver Thread, a bill that would legalize and regulate assisted dying was presented to parliamentarians in July 2023; the bill remained under consideration at year’s end.

Authorities actively prosecute suspected human traffickers and work to identify victims.

Foreign workers are at risk of exploitation in Slovenia. Migrant workers lack an effective framework for protection, and civil society has warned that official statistics on the state of migrant workers are lacking. At least two cases of migrant worker exploitation were reported in 2023. In one case, authorities issued fines of approximately €40,000 ($42,870) to three companies involved in the hiring of Ukrainian workers through unlicensed intermediaries.

In April 2023, authorities launched a criminal investigation into the management of a textile company for repeated offenses against labor legislation. Allegations against the company included withholding pay from workers, among other things. A Slovenian businessman bought a majority stake in the company in July 2023, promising to remedy the situation.